The shift broke into laughter.
Levendorf ended the roll call, and everyone herded toward the exits except for Pike and the other new guys. They stayed behind to meet their P-IIIs.
Three senior officers bucked the departing crowd to make their way forward. The burly black officer who made the crack about Pike being a reader went to Grissom. The second P-III was an Asian officer with a face as edged as a diamond. He offered his hand to Hernandez. Pike watched the third P-III. He was shorter than Pike, with close brown hair, a rusty tan, and a thin, no-nonsense mouth. Pike guessed he was in his late thirties, but he might have been older. He had three hash marks on the lower part of his sleeve, signifying at least fifteen years on the job.
He came directly to Pike and put out his hand.
“Good to meet you, Officer Pike. I’m Bud Flynn.”
“Sir.”
“I’ll be your training officer for your first two deployment periods. After that, if you’re still around, you’ll swap T.O.’s with the other boots, but you’re mine for the first two months.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You can call me Officer Flynn or sir until I say otherwise, and I will call you Officer Pike, Pike, or boot. We clear on that?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Got your gear?”
“Yes, sir. Right here.”
“Grab it and let’s go.”
Pike hooked the gear bag over his shoulder and followed Flynn out to the parking lot. The mid-afternoon sun was hot and the air was hazy from the smog bank that heated the city. Flynn led Pike to a dinged and battered Caprice that had probably racked up over two hundred thousand hard miles. When they reached the car, Flynn pointed at it.
“This is our shop. Its name is two-adam-forty-four, which will also be your name after I teach you to use the radio. What do you think of our shop, Officer Pike?”
“It’s fine.”
“It is a piece of shit. It has so much wrong with it that it would be down-checked on any other police force in America. But this is Los Angeles, where our cheap-ass city council won’t give us the money to hire enough men, or buy and maintain the proper equipment. But do you know what the good news is, Officer Pike?”
“No, sir.”
“The good news is that we are Los Angeles police officers. Which means we will use this piece of shit anyway, and still provide the finest police service available in any major American city.”
Pike was liking Flynn. He liked Flynn’s manner, and Flynn’s pride in the department, and Flynn’s obvious pride in his profession.
Flynn put his gear on the ground at the back of the car, then faced Pike with his hands on his hips.
“First we’re going to inspect the vehicle, then load our gear, but before we get going I want to make sure we’re on the same page.”
Flynn seemed to want a response, so Pike nodded.
“I respect your service, but I don’t give a rat’s ass about it. Half this police force was in the Marines and the other half is tired of hearing about it. This is a city in the United States of America. It isn’t a war zone.”
“Yes, sir. I understand.”
“That piss you off, me saying that?”
“No, sir.”
Flynn studied Pike as if he suspected Pike was lying.
“Well, if you are, you hide it well, which is good. Because out here, you will not show your true feelings to anyone. Whatever you feel about the lowlifes, degenerates, and citizens we deal with-be they victim or criminal-you will keep your personal opinions to yourself. From this point on, you are Officer Pike, and Officer Pike works for the people of this city no matter who and what they are. We clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
Flynn popped the trunk. It was tattered and empty. He pointed inside.
“This is the trunk. I’m driving, so my gear will go on the driver’s side. You’re the passenger, so your gear goes on the passenger’s side. This is the way we do it on the Los Angeles Police Department.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Stow your gear, but don’t stop listening.”
Pike stowed his gear as Flynn went on.
“The academy taught you statutes and procedure, but I am going to teach you the two most important lessons you receive. The first is this: You will see people at their creative, industrious worst-and I am going to teach you how to read them. You are going to learn how to tell a lie from the truth even when everyone is lying, and how to figure out what’s right even when everyone is wrong. From this, you will learn how to dispense justice in a fair and evenhanded way, which is what the people of our city deserve. Clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Any questions?”
“What’s the other thing?”
“What other thing?”
“The first lesson is how to read people. What’s the second?”
Flynn’s eyebrows arched as if he was about to dispense the wisdom of the ages.
“You will learn how not to hate them. You’ll see some sorry bastards out here, Officer Pike, but people aren’t so bad. I’m going to teach you how not to lose sight of that, because if you do you’ll end up hating them and that’s the first step toward hating yourself. We can’t have that, can we?”
“No, sir.”
Flynn inspected the trunk to make sure Pike had stowed his gear correctly, grunted an approval, then closed it. He turned back to Pike again, seemed to be thinking, and Pike wondered if Flynn was trying to read him.
Flynn said, “Now I have a question. When you said why you became an officer, you quoted the LAPD motto, to protect and to serve. Which is it?”
“Some people can’t protect themselves. They need help.”
“And that would be you, Officer Pike, with all that karate and stuff?”
Pike nodded.
“You like to fight?”
“I don’t like it or not like it. If I have to, I can.”
Flynn nodded, but the way he sucked at his lips told Pike he was still being read.
Flynn said, “Our job isn’t to get in fights, Officer Pike. We don’t always have a choice, but you get in enough fights, you’ll get your ass kicked for sure. You ever had your ass kicked?”
“Yes, sir.”
Pike would not mention his father.
Flynn still sucked at his lips, reading him.
“We get in a fight, we’ve failed. We pull the trigger, it means we’ve failed. Do you believe that, Officer Pike?”
“No, sir.”
“I do. What do you think it means?”
“We had no other way.”
Flynn grunted, but this time Pike couldn’t tell if his grunt was approving or not.
“So why is it you want to protect people, Officer Pike? You get your ass kicked so much you’re overcompensating?”
Pike knew Flynn was testing him. Flynn was probing and reading Pike’s reactions, so Pike met Flynn’s gaze with empty blue eyes.
“I don’t like bullies.”
“Making you the guy who kicks the bully’s ass.”
“Yes.”
“Just so long as we stay within the rule of law.”
Flynn considered him for another moment, then his calm eyes crinkled gently at the corners.
“Me being your training officer, I read your file, son. I think you have what it takes to make a fine police officer.”
Pike nodded.
“You don’t say much, do you?”
“No, sir.”
“Good. I’ll do enough talking for both of us. Now get in the car. Let’s go protect people.”
Their first hour together was light on protecting people. Each basic radio car normally patrolled a specific area within the division, but Flynn started off by giving Pike a tour of the entire division. During this time, Flynn reviewed radio procedures, let Pike practice exchanges with the dispatchers, and pointed out well-known dirtbag gathering points.